Recon and Insertion (Part 1 of 2)

Cadet Brayden McCaffee sat in the helmsmen's chair onboard the USS Leviathan drumming his fingers on the edge of the helm console. He nodded his head slightly to an imaginary beat, checking the flight read-outs every few moments. After ten minutes, a warning light started flashing and his attention quickly deviated from the music in his head to the Conn. "We're approaching the perimeter of the Limeria system sir."

Captain Devore looked from the display in-between the commanding officer's and executive officer's chair over towards McCaffee. "Prepare to drop from warp." Devore stood, and looked back at Ops station being occupied by Ensign Mason. "Begin passive sensor sweeps of the area in the Limeria system. Let me know if you detect any warships. We want to get close enough to Limeria IX undetected."

"Aye sir." Mason replied from the operations console. He turned his attention to the display behind him, beginning the necessary adjustments.

Devore then accessed the command console again, pressing a button. "All hands, this is Captain Devore. We are currently entering the Limeria system. Rig the ship for 'silent running.' " Devore hit button on the display panel and then hit another one. "Major Phanan, please make your way to the briefing room."

[I'm on my way Captain.] Phanan's voice came back over the intercomm. Devore then did the same, contacting Captain Goerl, Commander Loris and Major Maul. After doing this, nodded to Commander Toran, and the two made their way to the briefing room.

Briefing Room

"We've arrived in the Limeria system, and are creeping our way towards Limeria IX. I plan to put us in orbit around the planet's farthest moon, to keep the moon in-between us and the planet. In the mean time, Commander Toran will take all of you in the Hellcat towards Limeria IX. There, you'll gather high altitude holo-images from which you can plan your attack and liberation of the colony. The Leviathan will remain in orbit in case anything comes up. Any questions ?"

Devore looked around the table, and there was the shaking of heads all around indicating everyone understood. "Good. Commander Toran, they're yours. Good luck."

USS Hellcat, Approaching Limeria IX

"Major, we're coming up on the target area," Commander Toran called out from the helm of the Hellcat. Jon made his way over.

"Thank you Commander." Jon activated an imager that showed an image of the land area directly under them under high magnification. Captain Goerl made her way over to the display, and looked at it over Jon's shoulder.

"There." Goerl commented. She then pointed at the display. Jon pressed a button, taking a photo of the general area. He then pressed a few more buttons increasing the zoom. The image became larger and larger in the screen.

"And there is where are target is hiding." Jon pointed at a large ferrocrete building with two large weapon emplacements on the roof and a guard tower inside a perimeter gate. The rear of the building was up against a rock cliff face. Jon took a few more image shots. "That should be it. We're ready to head back Commander."

With that, the Hellcat gracefully pulled up out of it's flight, and headed back towards the Leviathan.

Marine Quarters : January 13, 2384

"Rise and shine gentlemen." Jon hit the button on the wall inside Second Lieutenants Jack Truman and Robbie Gleason's quarters, flashing the lights on and off.

"Oh geez Major." Robbie groaned.

Jack sat up, smacking himself on the "roof" of the slot bunk he was in. "Ah Crap !" Jack rubbed his head. "What time is it sir ?"

"Oh four thirty. Breakfast is at O-five hundred, briefing is at O-six hundred. I expect you to be there on time." Jon stopped flicking the lights on and off, and left them on.

"What about Captain Goerl's girls ?"

"What was that Jack ?"

"I'm sorry. Captain Goerl's troops, sir ?"

"Captain Goerl's troops will be in the briefing room at O-six hundred. You will be too. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to wake up your next door neighbours." Jon stepped out of the room, the doors closing behind him. Suddenly, another set of groans were heard coming from the quarters of Second Lieutenant Erindor J'Lan and Gunnery Sergeant Richard Sharpe.

Marine Briefing Room

Just as Jon had commanded, his group was all assembled in the Marine briefing room at 06:00, along with Captain Goerl's troops. Some of them were still sleepy eyed and tired, however, most were wide awake. It was amazing what a fresh cup of coffee could do. Jon knew how they were feeling, having quite a few cups before their meeting actually started. "If you're ready Captain ?" Jon looked over to Captain Goerl.

Goerl nodded and took a seat at the table next to her group of soldiers. Jon tapped a panel on the table, and the room darkened. A projector above the table lowered slightly, and a three dimensional image projected down on the table.

"What you're looking at ladies and gentlemen is H'Cter Colony on Limeria IX. These pictures were taken yesterday, so the Intel is going to be about 99 percent accurate. What we're looking at now is a topography map of the colony. I'll now turn this part of the briefing over to Commander Loris.

Loris made her way to the head of the table, as Jon stood aside. "Thank you Major." She cleared her throat and continued. "The H'Cter Colony is a a fairly newer colony numbering close to three thousand persons in population. The regional head of the colony was Catius of Trolean. He, however, was killed, along with his son, and his soon to be bride during a wedding ceremony." She paused a moment, nearly choking on her words. "This ceremony took place here, in the town's square." The image zoomed in, highlighting the square. "The insertion wave the continued north towards the governor's mansion, and finally to the local garrison, the most heavily defended of the buildings in the colony."

Robbie Gleason rose his hand. "Ma'am, if I may. Wouldn't you want your governor's mansion to be one of the most highly defended buildings in the colony ?"

"In most respects, Lieutenant, we are a peaceful race, and civilians do not carry around weapons. We have fewer than three killings a year in one colony alone. However, we do keep a strong military force in times of war. If something were to happen to the colony, the colony's inhabitants would make their way to the garrison for protection."

"Then why weren't there any troops in the colony's garrison ?" Robbie rebutted.

"Captain Goerl's platoon were the troops that were supposed to occupy the garrison. They were to arrive only three days after this event." A sigh was heard across the room from a few of the Nuan troops. "However, I must get to my point." The image shifted from the towns square over towards the garrison. The garrison then enlarged to take up the full projection by the projector. "The garrison is made of what you call 'ferrocrete'. It is reinforced concrete with a solid half foot of durasteel inside of it. Their is an enclosed walk way on the roof with two weapons emplacements at the southern corners of the base. Between these two emplacements is the main gate. The doors are made of reinforced durasteel."

"Sounds like we're gonna have a hell of a time getting in." Erindor J'Lan whispered to Richard Sharpe.

"I've seen worse," Sharpe commented.

"To our advantage, there is always a hidden escape exit located somewhere in the garrison, required by the Nuan armed forces. This entrance slash exit's location is only known by the garrison chief. I requested that the chief send me the location of the entrance, and I received it about an hour ago." Loris tapped a few more commands into the console, and a red line came into view. "The emergency exit is located on the opposite side of the rock cliff, which exits into a small cave. If you're careful, you should be able to make your way into the base from here." She then nodded to Major Phanan.

Jon stood up, and walked over to where Loris was standing. "Thank you Commander." Jon then began entering a few command codes into the panel, and a few different positions lit up. "Here's the game plan. Captain Goerl with five members of her squad along with Second Lieutenant's Truman and Gleason will make their way in through the escape exit into the main part of the base. From their, you will seek out and capture Rear Admiral Thomas Beard."

A few slight gasps between the Marines were heard. "Second Lieutenant Jack Truman narrowed down some of the possibilities where Beard could be hiding, and do to some of the circumstances with evidence found at a few previous Barien operations by the same group, we must assume that Beard is in-charge of this group of Bariens."

"Myself and Private Rikel of the Nuan squad will take up sniping positions at sniper points alpha and bravo highlighted on the map. We'll take out anyone moving to weapons emplacements, or trying to escape the garrison." Jon then turned his attention to the two newest Marines in his group. "Sharpe and J'Lan, I'm going to need you two to create a distraction in front of the base to stir them up. I've talked with Captain Devore, and he's going to allow us to use the Runabout Ohio for our mission. Gunnery Sergeant, I want you to affix two mortar units to the roof of the Ohio along with one artillery launcher. Be sure to cause a ruckus enough for them to send out people to stop it. From there, we'll take out anyone coming through the door."

"Sir, should I also have the Ohio configured to carry a rapid fire antipersonnel phaser cannon to the roof as well ?" Sharpe looked over to Jon.

"If you can get it on a retractable turret, then yes, by all means." I'm going to see if Lieutenant Savage will be able to spare some of her security personnel to aid in help covering the Ohio. Any questions ?" Jon paused to look around the room. Seeing none, he continued. "All right. We leave tomorrow at oh hundred hours. I want everyone asleep by nineteen hundred, and up by twenty-three hundred hours, and in the main shuttlebay by twenty-three thirty hours. Dismissed."

Everyone rose and cleared the room, heading off in their own directions.